If there is any possibility of removing one's self from a violent situation, take it. If the distance gets closed to striking/grappling range, do what you can to incapacitate the assailant/s or just break contact and run. You don't know if they are armed or if they have accomplices nearby. You might be in an area you don't know very well and it might take a while to get law enforcement or medical assistance.

You're in a city you've never been to by yourself and a couple people try to rob in a confusing sketchy neighborhood but you think those years of traditional martial arts classes make you too good. You get distracted while knocking out one guy and the other stabs you a few times when you aren't looking. Now you have no ID, no phone and you're bleeding to death in an unfamiliar area.

You are walking home and see some punks beating up a person from your work school, you try to get involved and one them pulls out a gun and shoots you.

Guy at the bar tries to fight you but you're 6'5" 320lbs, he can't touch you. You don't know know he's a mixed martial artist with 10 years of experience and the three guys next to him are his sparring partners and they don't like you. You have no training other than pass blocking or swim move.

Dumb ass kids need to recognize trying to act tough is how you fucking get killed. Always take flight. The pace at which a hostile situation can degrade to you dying is unreal. Unless you are with someone who is incapable of protecting themselves AND incapable of exiting the area at a high enough speed, fighting is always the dumbest, worst option.

Ideally, you are a humble person who attempts to resolve a potentially violent situation with words or just leaves the area before a storm is even starting to brew.

Only been in one fight in my life so far and the guy was the aggressor. If you have no choice then your best bet is to go for the eyes, pick 1 leg and keep kicking it. Even through the guy was bigger than me I literally had to rush him to close the distance " I am a slow runner" and grab on to him while hoping he wouldn't knock my head off since I was smaller than him. I keep kicking the same leg and when he got on one knee then I ran behind him and use all my strength to choke him and he ended up passing out. Luckily for me the guy was a well known bully and the teachers didn't even punish me. Most of them even told me good work " the days where you could defend yourself and not get in trouble".

If you can get help but if you can't avoid a fight than you better be prepared to do whatever to make sure your the one that goes home to your family.

Can't run, plastic and titanium knees.That would have been my prefered method.So now it's a decision on whether to use my .45(Glock) ,pepper spray, or allow myself to be victimized while trying negotiate for terms.It would be determined by the amount of force and the ferocity of the attack ,the individuals employing it, and the time allowed.This stuff usually happens in milliseconds so whatever my decision is it would ultimately be decided by a jury of my peers ,a coroner, or a hospital staff.My biggest problem in these situations is trying not to let the ghosts of the past render me immobile.